Wheel Advice please.

[geo]

Finally decided I am going to upgrade my wheels ready for spring. I had decided on the Mavic Kysrium Elite, priced at about £450 (depending how hard you search ) But I keep getting a little niggle in my head that wonders if its worth the extra cash upto about £700 ( again depending where you shop ) for the Kysrium SLS. Has anybody got any experience of either or both these wheels, and able to advise on whether or not the extra cash is worth the difference. Cheers fellas.

 

[black'n'yellow]

I would question buying them at all, when there are better, lighter wheels available...

 

[tigger]

You can get them for £380 from Chain Reaction at the moment. Good solid wheel set, reasonable weight. A wider rim and a possibly more aero profile wouldn't go amiss, HED Ardennes are king for me but will cost you a bit more.

http://www.hedwheels.com/proddetail.asp?prod=HopeArd

What would you recommend instead Black and Yellow?

 

[black'n'yellow]

instead of the SLS..? Dura Ace C24

 

[tigger]

Yeah classy wheel set, well the new 9000 series are now that Shimano have finally followed HED's lead with the wider rim. £600 at Planet X seems the best price.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPSH9000C24CL/shimano_dura_ace_wh_9000_c24_cl_wheelset

Proof would be in the riding but for me, as an 80kg rider, I wonder if they lack a few spokes?

 

[black'n'yellow]

80kg should be ok - not sure if there's a weight limit..

 

[geo]

Cheers lads, very interesting thoughts and I'm heading back to the drawing board I think, those C24 wheels look very interesting (and cheaper )than the SLS.

I too weigh in at 83Kg, but personally I wouldnt see that as a problem I dont think. I Have had a quick google search on these wheels and the reviews are all good with a few riders in excess of 90Kg reporting no problems at all.

 

[tigger]

Spoke count aside (which may be purely in my head) its hard to see past those new C24s. It has to be the new 9000 series though. Seriously, I cannot recommend wider rims enough. Stronger, stiffer, more comfortable, better cornering and more aerodynamic (albeit the latter is a very small advantage on low profiles). Add to that they are 11 and 10 speed compatible you are completely future proofed. At £600 from Planet X its the wheel of choice at that budget I think. Hell I may even upgrade my Ardennes CLs and save 200g (with over 100g coming off the rims)!!.

If only they did 20/24 spokes laced 2x both sides front and back I'd already have ordered them. It would have only added about 30g of weight spead over the width of 2 wheels... come on Shimano!?

One thing to check if you have 10 speed is the need for spacers. It seems you need an additional 1mm space which isn't supplied with the wheels? A note from Bike Rumour:
"All wheels are 11-speed ready to go with the new components. The non-drive flange has been pushed out 7mm to maintain proper triangulation, and the freehub body is 1.85mm wider. Shimano’s NA road product manager Dave Lawrence says the wheels and the hubs will require both a 1.85mm spacer (included with wheels) and the standard 1mm spacer (comes with cassette) to run a 10-speed cassette on them."

 

[black'n'yellow]

I've had the 7900s for about 18 months. You don't really need 2X on those wheels, so don't let that stop you...

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Finally decided I am going to upgrade my wheels ready for spring. I had decided on the Mavic Kysrium Elite, priced at about £450 (depending how hard you search ) But I keep getting a little niggle in my head that wonders if its worth the extra cash upto about £700 ( again depending where you shop ) for the Kysrium SLS. Has anybody got any experience of either or both these wheels, and able to advise on whether or not the extra cash is worth the difference. Cheers fellas.

@ £380 for Ksyriums i'd say that's about as good vfm you will get for a clincher just now. £1550 grams or there abouts for that price is win win. Fulcrum 1's are £500+ and save you 100 grams but will you really notice that 100grams more than the extra £100-£150 missing from your pocket?

 

[tigger]

I've had the 7900s for about 18 months. You don't really need 2X on those wheels, so don't let that stop you...

I don't know whether to like or unlike this comment... hmmm do I really need new wheels?! Will they really make any difference to me!?

 

[tigger]

@ £380 for Ksyriums i'd say that's about as good vfm you will get for a clincher just now. £1550 grams or there abouts for that price is win win. Fulcrum 1's are £500+ and save you 100 grams but will you really notice that 100grams more than the extra £100-£150 missing from your pocket?

I'd agree with that except for an extra £80 quid the HED Hopes will be a much better wheel at the same weight. Wide rims are the future and the word is they bring clinchers much closer to tubs in performance. Tony Martin has won 2 World TT on HED clincher rims

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

I'd agree with that except for an extra £80 quid the HED Hopes will be a much better wheel at the same weight. Wide rims are the future and the word is they bring clinchers much closer to tubs in performance. Tony Martin has won 2 World TT on HED clincher rims

Have experience on the Ksyriums and they are great, especially at that price. Never ridden HED so i will take your word for it. They sound good.

 

[Rob3rt]

My opinion of HED without riding them is that along with Zipp, they seem to have got the aero front nailed, but on other wheels, they don't seem to be as prolific, but they do carry that sense of superiority as based on that earned by their aero wheels. Possibly meaning they are over priced!

Mavic IMO, are over priced (I say this as a Mavic user) and occasionally come out with very dumb design features.

For £299 you can get the very light Pro-lite Bracciano, my only hesitation is, what corner did they cut to get such a low weight and at such a low price point? Longevity/Durability?

Shimano seem to be a good deal atm spec for money wise!

I use Shimano, Fulcrum, Mavic (the Mavic being the most costly of the wheels, none are high end though) and FFWD wheels. I would say, I tend to favour my cheapo Shimano wheels, although the Fulcrum are bomb proof. Not biased toward any brand really.

 

[black'n'yellow]

, my only hesitation is, what corner did they cut to get such a low weight and at such a low price point?

Look at it another way - what justifies the higher costs of wheels from HED, ZIPP, Reynolds, etc. In other words, is a set of HED Ardennes really worth £800 more than a set of PX AL30s..??